02.19.18 Last Day in Siquijor

hello people coming to you from my last day in paradise! yea got the call lsat night and im being traded to cebu and two new elders will be replacing me here in siquijor, i have no idea what my agent was thinking hahah. but yea we are off to cebu later today because Elder Rasband is coming to the temple to talk to all of us so i will meet my new comp there and see what happens. but yea i had a good last week here and yea dealing with my first cold of the mission, been coughin up a storm over the last week but i will survive, oh as long as i dont fall in love i know ill stay alive hahah. but yea leaving my two comps here and my new comp is an americano never met him before but he just got out of his training i think so yea. im going to miss all the people here so much, so hard leaving the people i have grown close to over the past 6 months but im excited for whats to come. yea sorry have some funny pics but they aint tryna load on and im crying while typing this because i reached in to grab something last night and my razor was facing up and i shaved off my finger hahah kinda hurts im gonna be honest. S/O to my little bro cole for his first date and dance last week wow never seen him dress up like that before, he mustve had someone to look up to in the style category hmmm who could it be... but yea sorry ill get back to you guys next week and yea getting through alma right now and the part when alma and amulek go out to preach the word and the stuff they say is amazing! they were some great missionaries! love you all so much and of course press forward in faith, in Christ.

02.06.18 Siquijor

Hello people this is Elder Smith coming to you from a computer lab somewhere hahah but yea we had a super good week here like way good. We had another good week teaching and finding and the best part was that we had 4 investigators to church! Everyone of our IBD made it to church which we were so happy about. Even this couple from Nabutay. which isover 45 min away and they were early to our 9AM start! So yea that was good and we had a lot of fun teaching people and one of the highlights came yesterday when we were teaching of our RC sister Dambo, am 11 yr old girl from Cebu who looks like she is 7 hahah she is tiny. We love teaching her because she always believes what we tell her and does what we tell her to, which in some cases can be a bad thing hahah. We were reviewing the Plan of Salvation and the Pre-mortal life and we asked her who lived there and she answered "Jesus and Heavenly Father... and Elder Smith" as a joke and we told her that was right because everyone lived there before they came here and that just confused her  hahah. She sat there for a ocuple seconds before Elder Briones came in saying, "yea i knew you before in the pre-mortal life" and she was just bewildered she didnt know what to think hahah and then he added a little more,... "and you were chubby" hahahhahahaha we were dying as she sat there just trying to take it all in. Her face was so awesome and she was totally serious like she believed everything Elder Briones said hahah so good. Also, we did a little back to school shopping and got us some companionship shoes from Prince(the only store on Siquijor). FOr only 200 pesos we got some pretty fresh adidas that could also be seen at your local Toys R Us back home hahah. But yea we are going back to school today, and let me just say this has been the most excited i have ever been for school. Later today we are attending a class and SSC, the class of Sister Liezl and we are so pumped hahah. We put on our disguise and we are lookin like your regular old students hahah(thanks for the old navy pants mom). But yea we have a baptism comin up this week and that is exciting and everything is looking up! Loving the work and even more the people, and even more the gospel. Grateful for every day that I get to progress and develop my faith in Christ. Love you all and dont forget to press forward in faith.

The pictures.... Wow from making my baseball glove to our ironing board, Mizuno does it all. Oh yea we took a trip to Dumaguete to the hospital for E Briones and his asthma is super bad so now every morning and night we are stuck watching him nebulize hahah and his fresh look today, wow gwapo. oh and our fresh kicks dont worry ill get some more up next week.

-Elder Smith

 

 

 

1.31.18 Siquijor

Hello people hahah good week here in Siquijor! Lots of stuff going on and we had a short week last week and struggled with only two days of full work but we got back at it this week. But yea highlight of the week was Saturday, the baptism of Sister Liezl! We drove across the island to get to this place before i realized that this was the first beach that i ever went to on Siquijor. This white sand beach and I got to baptize her and it was an amazing morning, and the best part was her testimony after the fact. She stood up and told everyone what she knew, and i am so grateful for the time she gave to us and how much trust she has in us. So then we were back to work and walkin everywhere because we might have been out of money hhahaah but we are okay now. But yea we talked to a lot of cool people and even had a lesson with this Lady that was Tagalog yesterday, so i practiced my three words that i know hahah but yea we are enjoying our time here and having lots of fun. Elder Briones is still telling everyone that we are ugings and im still going along with it so yea same old same old but little cool story from like two hours ago, i planned for us to go to our farthest investigator this morning and we thought if we were done by 12 we would have a ride back to Larena, 50 min away. We sat there for two hours with nothing coming and I was gettinga  little worried but I just said a little prayer and after several attempts to hitch hike in that two hours, this van stopped and they were going to Larena. Not too crazy of an experience but I just want to testify that prayer is a real thing, and the most important thing is that we offer what is in our hearts. We find a lot of people here that have memorized prayers and recite them to us and I feel bad for these people because they dont have the opportunity tthat I do everyday to talk to my Heavenly Father. Sorry there havent been any pictures but ill get some in this one. Love you all so much and am grateful for your examples in my life, each one of you are people i can look up to. Press forward in faith!

Hahah i dont know what order but theres a pic from the baptism. Elder Phippen got a little too excited when we were going out to work;) and a reaction from Elder Briones about his little accident. Also ELder Phippen grinding Peanut Butter with Relief Society. Dont worry i got good 30 min in grinding and ended up with one little cup out of the two gallons we made hahah. THen 0 to 100 real quick the little girls in the branch hahah i dont know what it else love you all!​

Guess it's optional to swim at baptisms.  :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.23.18 Siquijor

Helllooooo. Sorry peeps that I couldn't get to you last week but yea we had a good week here. This week we are in Dumaguete a lot and we had interviews a couple of days ago. Glad to say gihapon that our two investigators were interviewed last night and they both passed with flying colors. Sister Liezl, and Sister Camela are going to be baptized this week and next week hahah cant wait. But yea we had a really good week last week even on the days when are appointments fell through, we never had less that 6 lessons so that was really cool and then i conducted sacrament on sunday, and taught gospel principles, then the grand slam and taught priesthood also hahahah. but yea our branch is struggling and its sad but i think we have a lot of things to look forward to and our Mission President might have a meeting with us and the stake president tomrrow and im in charge of providing the problems of the branch adn what we can do, soooo hahahh pray for me. But yea President told me that he would love to keep me here next transfer but it isnt possible, so i will be leaving the land of no return which is a little sad but he also told me that there is a chance in the end of my mission i could make my way back here. But yea still doing good sorry now pictures again but im doing good. Sorry not a lot of funny stuff but i really do know that through Christ and faith in him, or hearts can be changed for the better. Love you all and love the suuport i get from you each and every week. press foward in faith. -Elder Smith

1.9.18 Siquijor

Hellloooo people this is Elder Smith coming to you again second time for 2018. Got a lot to report for this week so buckle up its gonna be a ride. hahah first of all about the subject ye got the call last night im staying in siquijor for one more transfer at least so im pumped, and even crazier news is that i have a new companion, and an old one? hahahh ye we got elder phippen comin in hes my provo batch and elder briones is staying also so we will be a trisome this transfer haha pretty wack i know. But yea had like the best week of the mission yet had a lot of good stuff go down. We went from no IBDs(investigator with a baptismal date), to 4 in just this week and all of them are pretty legit and two of them made it to church along with two other investigators. We also had 6 of our 8 recent converts to church and one LA who returned after not being to church for over 30 years. Lots of miracles in the work and we were so happy with our church attendance and we love teaching right now especially the girl i talked about last week, sister Liezl. Sister is 26 and has a 5 year old daughter. She will recieve a her doctrines degree this spring and is also teaching at the university here. We got punted from our last two appointments after the baptism of sam-sam on saturday and Sister Liezl was planning on coming but she couldnt make it so we went to her. The lesson was about fasting and it was awesome, and first off like every other of our lessons we asked if she had any questions because she reads everything we give her, and she asked us why Nephi killed laban... hahahah we havent even given her a BOM! my goodness she downloaded lds library and she had already read through chapter 5 of 1 nephi so awesome. she had also read about President Monson and watched some videos hahah she was really teaching us. But yea that was awesome and she fasted with us and went to church and took pictures of my lesson on the board hahah. another blessing was that we had a former ibd return to church and she came up to us with sister liezl after church and asked if they could have their baptisms togehter hahah. i love this work and we were so blessed this week and the pool of investigators we have is pretty legit and i cant wait to continue our work here. I love you all so much and sorry the email is really long but im super happy. heres some funny stuff so this whole transfer Elder Briones loves to be funny with everyone we talk to and after they make a confusing face probably wondering how i know how to say "hi" in bisaya, Elder briones confirms to them that i am an uging hahah (albino fillipino). almost err one knows its not true after i talk for awhile or they look at my face hjahah but last week we were talkin to a nay and we made it through the whole lesson and she still thought i was from Siquijor hahahahhahah. yea word of the week start calling your fellow work mates or freinds or even a random person on the street an "ugging"(OO-geeng) and see what they do ahahha. Thanks for you all love you all gihapon and press forward in faith

so one of these pics when the zone leaders came here last week, then me in front of the signnnnn, and me in Elder b's fav shirt. and oh my hand yesterday from my 5 hour laba marathon monday because i thought i was leaving hahah.

-Elder Smith

 

 

 

1.2.18 Siquijor

Holaaa peopleee good morning or maayong buntag as they say it here. Ye we had a good week and some cool stuff happened and some even cooler stuff and some even not so cool stuff hahah. But yea Happy New year! 2018 only one year left! hahah jokes not really but we had a good new years here we went from having no food appointments every day to 5 in one day on new years hahahah so busoggg. But yea there were some fireworks but hahah we went to bed on time so we couldnt watch any but we did wake up from them hahah. But yea we had an investigator to church and she is pretty awesome and shes going to be baptized later this month. She let us know in our lest lesson that she was being persecuted by her mother but she then reaffirmed to us that she was going to stay strong and shared her testimony about the plan that God has for us and it was more like she was teaching me instead of the other way around. But yea shes cool and fun story i got another haircut this week and i didnt even tell him anything and he was already going at my hair. But it ended up the best one that i have gotten yet, which made me happy so i know who to go to next week. But then he got a little crazy with the powder brush thing and the next thing i know he is brushing down at my legs(and evertyhing in between hahahah) and sputtering off tagalog that i acted like i understood as i was slowly moving to the door. so yea sayang kaayo probably wont go back there but it was so funnyyy. man i miss duane. hahahh but yea everything else is good here we had some rain the past couple days and just recovering  hahah but hope yall had a good new year sorry no pictures this week kay walay claro ang computer shop but basin next week na lang. Salamat kaayo for your support and love and i love you all! John 15:13 is an amazing scripture go read it! Im out here for you guys never forget it! Love you all and press forward in faith!

 

-Elder Smith

12.26.18 Siquijor

Yooooo(thats for Tali)ooooo people good to see you again not really seeing but I have the faith that someone is on the other side of this computer screen reading this run-on sentence, and hopefully not literally behind this computer because its just a wall hahah. But yea I had a good week and an amazing Christmas. We were in Dumaguete for Christmas morning and district meeting and a gift exchange and let me just say i am stocked on pens for the next 20 years or so hahah. Then we had an awesome FHE on Monday night and had some good food my favorite fish things hahah yayyy. But then got to the best part of the week, calling the fam gahapon! hahah man it was good to talk to them and see their faces even if it was a little too close at times hahah jokes ra. But update on the fam: Tali is still smiling, cole is still wearing my clothes, dad is still wearing the flops, and mom might still be crying hahah. Loved seeing them though and hearing about whats happenin in the America hahah. Forgot to tell yall that we had an american family at sacrament on Sunday from Texas and they are on vacation here. so they had a party last night at Coco grove the nicest resort on the island in the penthouse hahah. We got off the elevator, and were in awe of evertyhing that we saw. The views were amazing and we had some amazing food and shakes and desert and entertainment(it wasnt me) and I even met Stevie Wonder.  Woah woah woah before you doubt me it was him, except he didnt have braids and he was filipino hahah. But seriously they had their own piano player and he was blind and was playing the whole night. He seriously could play anything they asked and he even sang and it was so good. I was amazed and then the Americano broke it down with Ice Ice baby with the beat from the keyboard so yea felt a little like home in the most weird way. But yea that was Christmas and I also wanted to say happy birthday to my amazing Mom yesterday. She is so amazing and I love her so much. She is so good at Softball and everything else and im grateful for her and everything she does for me and the family. Love the work here and love my mom and hope yall had an amazing Christmas.

Yo so somewhere in here theres a pic of Elder Briones on the streets of Larena, the many packages i recieved along with a giant nametag from my last comp( thank you for everyone that wrote/sent something to me i loved reading through everything and eating all of your treats and not thankful for the love handles i am also obtaining). Then some pics from the larena Christmas party and my sweet shades that we rocked for our presentation at the party;0. I dont know what else hahah.

Love you all

-Elder Smith